CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS)—With his 88-year-old brother sitting by
his side, Pope Benedict XVI was treated to an evening of Bavarian folk
music and dancing, a clear expression, he said, of a "cheerful culture,
imbued with joy."

More than 1,000 pilgrims from Bavaria—the majority of them members of
choirs, bands and dance troupes—joined the pope and his brother Aug.
3 in the courtyard of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo. The men wore
lederhosen and women wore traditional dirndl.

To announce the groups' presence and greet the pope, the Bayerische
Gebirgsschutzen—Bavarian mountain riflemen—fired several rounds of
blanks into the air in the square outside the papal villa. They
deposited their weapons outside the pope's summer home before joining
the rest of the groups inside.

The Bavarian folk festival was the result of a "musical pilgrimage"
organized by the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, Germany, in honor of
the pope's Bavarian roots. Cardinal Reinhard Marx, head of the
archdiocese, said he originally offered the evening to the pope in honor
of his 85th birthday, April 16, and the pope suggested having it during
the summer at Castel Gandolfo.

The pope "knows the churches, the history, the poetry -- really he has a
deep knowledge of everything about the history and popular traditions
of Bavaria. So I thought this would be a beautiful gift," the cardinal
told Vatican Radio.

At the end of the performances, Pope Benedict told his visitors that
Bavarian culture is joyful because it always has emphasized being in
harmony with creation and God the creator.

Some people ask if it is right to be so happy "when the world is so full
of suffering, when there is so much darkness and so much pain," the
pope said. "The answer can only be a 'yes,' because saying 'no' to this
joy benefits no one, it only makes the world darker.

"The world is beautiful and God is good and he became man and came to
live among us," the pope said. "We know this definitely and concretely:
yes, God is good and it is good to be human. We live in this joy, and
try to bring this joy to others, to reject evil and to be servants of
peace and reconciliation."

To the delight of the crowd of Bavarians, Pope Benedict was in a jovial
mood. First he teased Cardinal Marx—a native of Westphalia—for his
pronunciation of the Bavarian dialect. Then he excused himself from
naming each of the performing groups and thanking them one by one,
saying, "The memory of an old man isn't reliable."